Melt characteristics,mechanical, and thermal properties of blown film from modified blends of poly(butylene adipate‐co‐terephthalate) and poly(lactide)

Blown films from poly(butylene adipate‐co‐terephthalate) and poly(lactide) (PLA) blends were investigated. The blends were prepared in a twin‐screw extruder, in the presence of small amounts of dicumyl peroxide (DCP). The influence of DCP concentration on film blowing, rheological, mechanical, and thermal properties of the blends is reported in this article. Rheological results showed a marked increase in polymer melt strength and elasticity with the addition of DCP. As a consequence, the film homogeneity and the stability of the bubble were improved. The modified blend films, compared with the unmodified blend, showed an improvement in tensile strength and modulus with a slight loss in elongation. Fourier transform infrared and gel results revealed that chain scission and branching were more significant than crosslinking when the DCP loadings in the blends were not higher than 0.7%. A reduction in melt temperatures of PLA was observed due to difficulty in chain crystallization. The concentrations of DCP strongly affected the melting temperatures but had an insignificant effect on the decomposition behavior of the blends. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011     

MOFs 材料金属位点设计及沼气纯化应用研究

改变MOFs材料的中心金属能影响其气体的亲和性和双组份气体的吸附选择性（如比表面积,孔道结构,内部电场等）,本文合成并表征了M－DABCO系列（M＝Ni, Co, Cu, Zn） MOFs材料。并应用理想吸附溶液理论（Ideal Adsorbed Solution Theory,简称IAST）量化模拟了环境条件下双组分混合气体（组分比CO2：CH4＝40％：60％）的吸附选择性。 Ni－DABCO材料具有良好的CO2吸附性能和在环境条件下对CO2／CH4混合气体的吸附选择性。本文通过实验、表征及计算等来讨论中心金属对M－DABCO系列吸附位点的影响。     

Color improvment of C9 hydrocarbon resin by hydrogenation over 2% Pd/γ‐alumina catalyst: Effect of degree of aromatic rings hydrogenation

Color improvement of commercial C₉ hydrocarbon resin (c‐C₉HR) and prepared C₉ hydrocarbon resin (p‐C₉HR) has been investigated under various hydrogenation conditions over 2% Pd/γ‐alumina catalysts. The degrees of aromatic rings hydrogenation (DHs) and molecular structure of resin were determined from nuclear magnetic resonance of ¹H and ¹³C (¹H‐NMR and ¹³C‐NMR) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analyses. The starting c‐C₉HR presented in yellow color (Gardner color No. 8.4). Under the hydrogenation conditions used (H₂ pressure 70 bar, 250°C, and 8 h), the ethylenic proton in c‐C₉HR was completely removed, but the aromatic rings content remained unaltered and very little change in resin color was observed (Gardner color No.8.1). On the other hand, the starting p‐C₉HR contained only unsaturated aromatic proton with Gardner color No.17.1. Under similar conditions, aromatic rings in p‐C₉HR were converted to alicyclic rings, and its color was reduced to Gardner color No.5.7. By varying the DH of aromatics in p‐C₉HR, two‐step decolorization was observed in which at lower DH (≤10%) the color decreased sharply from 17.1 to 9.3, while further color reduction to 5.7 was obtained when the DH was increased to 94%. It is suggested that both color body and aromatic rings were the main sources contributing to C₉HR color. Nevertheless, color stability of the resin during heat treatment was significantly improved by hydrogenation especially at DH ≥ 50%. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2010     

3,12-Dimethoxy-7,8-dicyano-[5]helicene as a novel emissive material for organic light-emitting diode

3,12-Dimethoxy-7,8-dicyano-[5]helicene (DDH) was introduced as a novel emissive material for organic light-emitting diode. It shown good thermal stability and no glass transition temperature was observed. The LUMO, HOMO and energy band gap (?3.3, ?5.9 and 2.6 eV) of this compound were determined using cyclic voltammetry technique. Fluorescence quantum yield of DDH in chloroform is 0.27. The turn-on voltage of OLEDs with a configuration of ITO/PEDOT:PSS/DDH/Ca/Al was not a function of DDH thickness in a range of 60–100 nm. The best OLED, in which DDH thickness was 100 nm, exhibited a turn-on voltage of 3.7 V with maximum brightness of 1587 cd/m² at 8.0 V and 281 mA/cm². The maximum current efficiency and power efficiency were 0.64 cd/A and 0.29 lm/W, respectively. The CIE coordinates of the OLED electroluminescence, however, appeared to depend on the applied voltage as they were (0.38,0.47) at 5.0 V and (0.51,0.44) at 8.0 V.     

DESORPTION ISOTHERMS AND DRYING CHARACTERISTICS OF SHRIMP IN SUPERHEATED STEAM AND HOT AIR

Desorption isotherms for shrimp were determined at the temperatures of 50, 60, 70 and 80°C. Amongst the moisture equilibrium predictions between the BET and GAB models, the latter has a better predictable capability. The GAB parameters are correlated with the temperatures by the Arrhenius expression. Drying characteristics of shrimp in drying media at the temperature range of 120-180°C for superheated steam and of 70-140°C for hot air have been examined. Drying rate and effective diffusion coefficient are used to quantify quantitatively the difference between the superheated steam and the hot air dryings. The temperature is more important effect on drying rate and effective diffusion coefficient in the superheated steam than in the hot air. Inversion temperature exists between 140 and 150°C. Comparing to the hot air, the shrimp dried by the superheated steam shows a lower degree of shrimp shrinkage. In addition, product colours are slightly different to those from the commercial sources.     

MOBILE FLUIDIZED BED PADDY DRYER

The objectives of this research are to design, construct and test a mobile fluidized bed paddy dryer with a drying capacity of 2.5-4.0 t/h. Suitable drying conditions are recommended as follows : drying capacity 3.8 t/h, bed velocity 2.8 m/s, average drying air temperature 144 °C, bed height 13.5 cm, fraction of air recycled 0.8. Residence time of paddy was approximately 1.3 minutes. Test results showed that moisture content of paddy was reduced from 32.6 % dry-basis to 25.8 % dry-basis. Consumption of electrical power and diesel fuel was 12.9 kW and 21.71 1/h respectively. Primary energy consumption was 910.9 MJ/h. The dryer could evaporate water 218.8 kg/h. Specific primary energy consumption was 4.2 MJ/kg-water evaporated. Cost of paddy drying was 1.48 baht/kg-water evaporated of which 0.53 was fixed cost and 0.95 was energy cost (US$1 =34baht).     

Fed-batch optimization of recombinant <Emphasis Type="Italic">α</Emphasis>-amylase production by <Emphasis Type="Italic">Bacillus subtilis</Emphasis> using a modified Markov chain Monte Carlo technique

A modified Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) searching procedure was developed to search for an optimal set of decision variables and optimal feed rate trajectories for recombinant α-amylase expression by Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6051a. The bacterium also synthesizes proteases as undesirable products in fed-batch culture that need to be minimized. To maximize α-amylase productivity, a 14th-order fed-batch model was optimized by integrating Pontryagin’s maximum principle with the Luedeking-Piret equation. The number of iterations and simulations of the proposed searching procedure were statistically examined for accuracy and acceptability of the results. It can be concluded that the proposed searching procedure increased the parameter selection opportunity near the tail ends of redefined triangular distribution. By applying a modified MCMC searching procedure with 1,500 iterations, the predicted α-amylase productivity was improved by 18% in comparison with near-optimum experimental results. This productivity was 3.5% higher than predicted by conventional MCMC optimization.     

Proteinase-producing halophilic lactic acid bacteria isolated from fish sauce fermentation and their ability to produce volatile compounds

Halophilic lactic acid bacteria were isolated from fish sauce mashes fermented at 1 to 12 months. Seven out of sixty-four isolates were selected according to their proteolytic activity and growth at 25% NaCl for characterization and investigation of volatile compound production. All selected isolates were Gram-positive cocci with pairs/tetrads and grew at 0-25% NaCl, pH 4.5-9.0. Results of 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis showed 99% homology to Tetragenococcus halophilus ATCC 33315. The restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) patterns of all isolates were also similar to those of T. halophilus ATCC 33315. These isolates were, thus, identified as T. halophilus. All isolates hydrolyzed fish protein in the medium containing 25% NaCl. Intracellular aminopeptidase of 7 isolates exhibited the highest activity of 2.85-3.67 U/ml toward Ala-p-nitroanilide (Ala-pNA). T.halophilus strains MS33 and M11 showed the highest alanyl aminopeptidase activity (P < 0.05), and produced histamine in mGYP broth containing 5 and 25% NaCl in the level of 6.62-22.55 and 13.14-20.39 mg/100 ml, respectively. Predominant volatile compounds of fish broth containing 25% NaCl inoculated with T. halophilus MS33 and MRC5-5-2 were 1-propanol, 2-methylpropanal, and benzaldehyde, corresponding to major volatile compounds in fish sauce. T.halophilus appeared to play an important role in volatile compound formation during fish sauce fermentation.